The classroom is a fishbowl. You can at least influence the quality of the water.

Michael McMenamin

In this sabbatical report Michael McMenamin, Headmaster New Plymouth Boys' High School, seeks to investigate, by talking with Māori students (and other participants in their education), how a better understanding of Māori students’ experiences in the classroom and analyses of these experiences might lead to improved policy and teaching and learning that would ultimately result in greater Māori student achievement. It also sought to identify those underlying teacher and school behaviours and attitudes that make a difference to Māori achievement.

The results of this research and professional development were that:

change took place in the teachers’ classrooms throughout the whole school and created a ‘cultural change’ in the school so that all teachers were supportive of and knowledgeable of the new approaches

students were able to experience consistency across as many of their subject classrooms as possible

there was a shift from the dominant teacher-directed traditional pattern of classroom interaction to a more balanced approach including more discursive teacher-student interactions

the belief that an influence on Māori students‟ educational achievement lay in the minds and actions (positioning within discourse) of the teachers

the development of an institutionalized means of teachers collaboratively reflecting upon and changing their practice in light of a range of evidence of student participation and achievement, from a range of measures, provides a way forward which has an explicit focus on improving teaching practice and improving the interaction and quality of relationships between teachers and students

there was a significant growth in Māori learner achievement for schools participating in Te Kotahitanga, in some cases twice the expected gain

there were fewer students had unexplained absences from school, more learners were engaged, and more said their relationships with teachers had improved.

From his investigation Michael gathered the following ideas to improve Maori educational outcomes:

Someone in Senior Management has the responsibility for Māori student achievement.